I was delighted to recently assist Heidi Sarna with her entry on decorative tiles in her upcoming book with co-writer Jerome Lim, ‘Secret Singapore’. Heidi is a freelance writer and editor from New York City, and runs Bike-a-Local. Jerome Lim is behind the popular blog, The Long and Winding Road. Learn more about ‘Secret Singapore’ on Instagram, or buy the book!
“SINGAPORE - Bukit Brown cemetery, the largest Chinese cemetery outside China, is known for its huge collection of ornate, well-preserved tombstones, including those flanked by imposing statues of Sikh guards.
But it was a pop of colour from decorative tiles depicting pastoral scenes such as a Dutch windmill and European mountains that caught Heidi Sarna's eye while she was cycling through the cemetery last year.
Intriguiged, she returned with one of her twin sons, now 18, to clean the mud and dirt from the tiles before consulting artist and tile expert Jennifer Lim on their origins.
Lim is the author of Singapore Heritage Tiles: An International Mosiac of Love, which will be published this year.
The peaceful images are said to help surround the departed wtih feng shui elements such as mountains and water.
Lim also introduced Sarna to decorative peacock tiles, likely made in England and popular on tombs. Peacocks, which represent beauty and grace in Chinese culture, adorned the clothing of high-ranking officers in the Ming Dynasty.
For Sarna, 54, a freelance writer and editor from New York City, this was one of many secrets she discovered after living in Singapore for the past 15 years.
Together with freelance researcher and history buff Jerome Lim, author of heritage blog The Long and Winding Road (thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com), they have collated information about 130 such spots into Secret Singapore.
The book, published by Paris-based independent publisher Jonglez Publishing, will be out next month. It is among a series of city guides on places including Bali, Cape Town and Helsinki featuring unique spots and stories.
Secret Singapore has been six years in the making, but it is fortuitous to launch amid a pandemic, when travel is off the table and people are on a perennial search for new things to do here.
And despite Singapore's small size and sleek facade, both authors believe there is plenty of history to be discovered.
The book is a bid to capture it, to freeze time amid the ongoing cycle of upgrading, modernising and redeveloping.
For Lim, 56, it was the same desire to document the present that led him to start his blog in 2008.
Then a naval architect, he spent a few months in Penang on a project where he was struck by how much the architecture and environment reminded him of his growing-up years in the 1960s.
"I felt a longing for the old Singapore that has changed so much," says Lim, as he describes scenes from his childhood, long erased.
The coastline along Changi and Tanah Merah, which he used to visit with his father, moved inland by land reclamation.
Department stores he would visit with his mother; old scenes of the Singapore River, then still filthy, thronging with labourers bearing loads on sun-wizened backs.
His blog became a repository, one that Sarna referenced when she first moved to Singapore.
Embarking on walking tours to learn about her new home, she would research anecdotes shared by tour guides and often found herself coming back to Lim's blog.
When their publisher suggested she pair up with a local for the project, he was a natural choice.
Even with their combined discoveries, both authors believe there is yet more to be discovered and documented.
Still, as a young nation, there has been progress.
At the old National Library gate pillars, preserved in a courtyard at Singapore Management University, Lim tells this reporter the public outcry in response to plans to demolish the library building was one of the early examples of civil society speaking up for conservation.
The building was demolished in 2005, but it paved the way for more community participation in this field.
There has since been public discourse around the conservation of other buildings, including Golden Mile Complex in Beach Road and Pearl Bank Apartments in Chinatown.
"There is a greater awareness of the need for conservation, not just buildings but also the identity of a place," says Lim, who believes there is now a greater sensitivity among policymakers on the topic.
He hopes the book will trigger a desire among people here to find out more about their backyard.
"Stories are what make us feel connected to a place and forge a stronger connection with Singapore," he adds.